by Andy Chasse

Created on: June 03, 2009   Last Updated: June 04, 2009

I'm going to try to break a crazy myth here: GPP is only useful for athletes. I will concede that GPP (General Physical Preparedness) can be an invaluable tool for competitive athletes of any level. However, to say that it is only useful for athletes is just flat out blasphemous. Wanna test me? Keep reading.

What do you think of when you here the term GPP? Personally, I think of that whole spell pig backwards and says colors joke from elementary school. For those who are a little more grown up than me, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that explosive movement based exercises are at the top of the list - sled dragging, sledgehammer work, bodyweight circuits, just to name a few. Those are all great examples of GPP. But here's where I'm confused - only athletes need the benefits of these exercises?

Surely not. If you answered no to that question then you're telling me that you don't need core strength, cardiovascular conditioning, heart health, and total body strength. I don't know; seems a little fishy to me. What sane individual would turn down that rather impressive list? Isn't that exactly what we hope to gain from exercise? That's a strong yes for myself.

To be honest, though, that list barely even scratches the surface of the true benefits GPP provides. I'll run you through the few that I listed real quick:

Core Strength - Dragging a sled with 100lbs slapped on top of it is sure to do a hell of a lot more for your core than 3 sets of crunches.

Cardiovascular Conditioning - Involving all of the energy systems.

Total Body Strength - You use your entire body to assist you in performing a sledgehammer swing. The power is transferred from your feet up through your hips and core musculature to your upper body where you are finally able to make the swing happen.

Heart Health - All of the benefits of traditional cardiovascular activity in fun-form.

Why perform GPP over traditional cardio? Your answer is the above. If that isn't enough to convince you, let's break it down a bit further. Because of the nature of GPP, it doesn't even feel like work. It mostly consists of short-burst activity. This is a big change from the typical aerobic conditioning workout in which you run a super long distance, completely bored out of your mind.

It also fits much better into your training schedule than aerobic cardio. Let's just be honest for a second - training for strength and endurance at the same time is intensely counter-productive. I like to consider GPP the strength

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>